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once again a Manufacturer has created an energy saving automobile that only the people who can afford to pay for gas can afford. when you create a car that the poor to middle class can afford i will not be impressed.

Vawlkus | 15 Gennaio 2013

Go back under your bridge, troll.

Sudre_ | 15 Gennaio 2013

LOL.... can't save his money and blames the company. I am middle class, I can buy the car just fine. I was smart enough to start saving for it way back in the early 2000's. The stock is also helping.

Try a budgeting forum for help since you have no clue.

ptpress | 15 Gennaio 2013

If the car is an energy saving automobile, the its price doesn't matter because it will be worth it. Whether people can afford it or not as long as they want it and prepared for it, your impression doesn't really matter.

When cel phones, HDTV's, and computers were new, they were also expensive and not very affordable to the middle class. Even giant, well established companies such as Sony could not figure out how to immediately bring out the new technology at a low price and massive scale.

If you're not impressed it's because you lack perspective.

Brian H | 15 Gennaio 2013

Grammatically stupid troll. His final sentence says the opposite of what he intends.

Timo | 15 Gennaio 2013

This is not charity it is business. TMC is not producing BEV because "it is energy saving" it is producing it because they make a lot more sense than ICE cars (at least for passenger cars). They are simply better in every way. Top to bottom -approach is needed because that's the only way new company can survive. EVERYONE trying to do that other way around have failed.

David70 | 15 Gennaio 2013

Brian,

Maybe it's not opposite of what he intends.

He could just be extremely anti EV.

Timo | 16 Gennaio 2013

I'm guessing he tried to write "until..." instead of "when..."

Brian H | 16 Gennaio 2013

Timo;
ya, that would make sense. 'When' means he is opposed to affordable cars! Da doofus.

david_se | 16 Gennaio 2013

Your coming at this the wrong way. Tesla takes from the rich and gives to the poor (and Tesla's shareholders of course, but if you have a problem with that ... well, there is still North Korea).

Tesla lets rich people pay a premium to exclusively beta-test their cars and software. Rich people love that, but poor people shouldn't care, because it's really not a big deal.

Then they take the profits and invest in building a great, affordable car, that poor (or at least middle class) people can afford. If Tesla didn't do it this way, the less fortunate people would have to pay for the initial R&D. And they wouldn't afford that, and there'd be no progress. And in doing that, they also create jobs that make poor people middle-class.

Mark22 | 16 Gennaio 2013

Tesla is a young start up automotive company. Any start up in this industry that survives is incredibly impressive.
One that survives and is only making EVs is phenomenal!
The giants could easily (relatively) beat Tesla to the punch and done this first. They have tooth the huge R&D and the huge production capabilities.
If the don't soon, Tesla will eat their lunch;)

Brian H | 16 Gennaio 2013

Mark;
I'm not sure what "tooth" the majors have, but they do NOT have the cajones to challenge their own traditional product lines. There is no evidence that any can or will produce a car over 100 mi range. They look at "most" driving as local and commuter and try for the "big" market, and utterly fail to offer or sell people what they want.

Timo | 16 Gennaio 2013

@Brian H, Agreed with "will", disagreed with "can".

Elon said that there is no technical reason why they couldn't do 500+mile range BEV right now, it would just cost too much.

Chevrolet could do 100+ mile range car by basically taking Volt, removing the ICE and overly complex transmission and filling that space with batteries. It would weight a bit more, but it would do over 100 miles / charge. Even home conversions can reach 100+ miles quite easily.

What really separates TMC from the rest is that TMC is building infrastructure for their cars and everybody else does nothing of the sort. With Tesla you get full package, not just the car.

Jewsh | 16 Gennaio 2013

chriswazgent,

Almost every technology is incredibly expensive to start with. How do you think the computer you used to post evolved? How much did you pay for it? Your PC had many years for its respective technologies to become ubiquitous. In the future the same will be true of EVs.

prash.saka | 16 Gennaio 2013

+1 Sudre_

jackhub | 16 Gennaio 2013

Another short-seller heard from!

Brian H | 16 Gennaio 2013

@Timo;
yeah, I needed a qualifying clause or two in there. Such as "with adequate cabin and luggage room".

olanmills | 16 Gennaio 2013

Don't waste your fingers, lol. This guy probably just made this one post and is never coming back. Hopefully it made him feel better.

Brian H | 17 Gennaio 2013

olan;
Can't honestly say as I share your hope.

Jewsh | 17 Gennaio 2013

Olan is right. Dude is a total troll. Most likely he/she has had their fun and long ago moved on. Hopefully. :-D

Timo | 17 Gennaio 2013

Or he was genuinely frustrated that he couldn't afford Tesla car and did not understand the "Tesla master plan". Also hint of treehugger mixed with stupidity there (notion that car is green and because of that should be cheap for people to buy it).

Jewsh | 18 Gennaio 2013

I agree with Timo in that the OP has a point. Sort of. In many cases the general population (even in North America) are driving some of the old gas guzzlers the elite traded in. (If we can be called elite. Last time I checked I wasn't rich.)

It's a frustrating thing to know that the poor or middle class are sometimes enticed or even forced to buy last year's fuel-inefficient technology. Fuel costs serve to put them even further from buying a newer, more efficient car!

That's the bad news. The good news is that electric vehicles are simpler and may potentially end up costing comparatively less than ICE-based cars in the future.

Brian H | 18 Gennaio 2013

Jewsh;
I'll take that last prediction with a grain of assault and batteries. Or SLT. ;)